Measures will protect health workers

New international guidelines have been developed to protect the safety of healthcare workers who look after those with HIV/AIDS. Representatives from the International Labor Organization and the World Health Organization met in Geneva in April to address the impact of AIDS on healthcare workers. The three-day meeting involved experts on HIV/AIDS, healthcare, and occupational safety and health, and those representing workers, employers and governments.

"This will provide stronger guidance on preventing exposure to HIV/AIDS," says AFT’s health and safety expert Darryl Alexander, who was among the attendees. "The document will help healthcare workers unite to advocate for better protection measures."

Such measures are necessary because of the great impact the disease has on healthcare workers. For example, 14 percent of health workers (mostly nursing staff) in South Africa died as a result of AIDS between 1997 and 2001. In Botswana, an estimated 17 percent of healthcare workers will have been lost to AIDS between 1999 and 2005.

The new health service guidelines will cover the role of social dialogue, which provides governments, employers and workers with a forum to discuss challenges such as HIV/AIDS in the healthcare sector. The guidelines also offer specific and practical ways to protect, train and inform healthcare workers and address issues such as screening, treatment, confidentiality, the minimizing of occupational risk, and prevention, as well as care and support for healthcare workers.

"Now we have the guidelines, we must put considerable effort into making sure that they are available to every healthcare worker and every workplace setting, whether it’s a hospital, clinic, roadside or community setting," said Alexander at the conclusion of the meeting.

The joint guidelines will be available in July.

In related news, Candice Owley, chair of AFT Healthcare’s program and policy council, attended the Public Services International health services task force in Geneva, Switzerland, in April. PSI is the international body for public sector unions, and its healthcare division focuses on issues that affect healthcare workers throughout the world. The task force includes healthcare representatives from regions represented by PSI.

The global shortage of nurses was one area of focus during the meeting. PSI is working on a project to address the migration of healthcare workers, particularly nurses, to other countries. The project seeks to build union partnerships between countries that send healthcare workers and those who hire them, and to lobby for the implementation of ethical recruitment guidelines and compensation schemes for the health systems of developing countries.